Who is the Fairest of them All?
Now, the reason we don`t watch movies together often is because of the fact our intrests lie far and abroad. She likes to watch modern horror movies like Paranormal Activity, chick flicks you get on `female` channerls, drama, and her intrest in fantasy and the likes is Harry Potter. I on the other hand am the lover of scifi, fantasy and adventure, and while she hasn`t seen any of Star Wars movies and fell asleep during the Avengers, I still haven`t seen (nor ever will see) Twilight for example.
And we never go to the same movie in the cinema except The Hobbit. She takes along a friend and is counting down to 50 Shades, I go with Nemesis and Age of Ultron is high on the anticipation list...
But back to Snow White. Influenced by the classic, dark and moody Grimm story and not the Disney version, the movie features some known names like Thor the God of Thunder, that silly broad loving a sparkling vampire vegetarian and Charlize Theron. Who keeps her bubs out of sight for once in this movie btw.
The rest is made up of mostly british actors, something I always cheer for in `high fantasy` movies as in my opinion traditional english still sounds better for a royal knight then the harsher american english, better suited imho to curse with at aliens.
Synopsis:
The intro of the movie immediatly sets the pace and tone for the movie. The King`s grief over loosing his wife only a few years after Snow White was born leads him to war against a mysterious and dark army. This results in a Gladiator style cavalry run into the midst of the enemy, odd creatures that fall apart when hit in glass like shards. He frees a captive, Ravenna, and is immediatly enamoured by her beauty wedding her swiftly. But unfortunatly for the King and the people of the Kingdom, she is a man-hating, evil sorceress who kills the king on the wedding night, and locks up Snow White away in the northern tower.
We also get to see the `face in the mirror` now, and to be honest, that looks more like a T-1000 then it does like a magical mirror, being a bronze shield that `flows` into a draped shape when `activated`. And only she can see the apparition to boot.
Ravenna is afraid of growing old and ugly, and for that end, aided by her brother Finn, she requires the lifeforce of youthfull people. She drains their energy, making her young again while leaving them dried out old husks, sometimes barely alive.
The mirror teaches her that Snow White however will become fairer then her when she hits 18, so she decides to drain her on that day. Unfortunatly, Snow White looks out of her window and sees a rusted nail portruding from the wall (so, she hasn`t then for 12 years????) and uses this to escape into the Dark Swamp. She becomes hunted here by a creature looking like a Dementor, but I actually expected gollum to appear here (to just give an impression of the decent CGI levels used in the movie).
Ravenna summons one of the few survivors that have travelled into the Dark Forest and survived, a drunk and washed out Huntsman. Promising him to reunite him with his deceased wife, he sets out to find Snow and quickly captures her, but as Finn tells him that she couldn`t do that and it was all a lure, he escapes with Snow White, promissing to bring her to Duke Hammond as word gets out that the princess is not only still alive, but also has escaped from the evil queen.
We get to see a troll under the bridge battle here, really looks like Thor fighting the Ice Giants again ;-)
After running into a river patrol, they are both taken to an amazionian river settlement, where women scar their faces in order to be uglier then, and as such safe from, the queen. They reveal to the Huntsman who his burden actually is, and as he wants to take his leave, the village comes under attack by Finn and his men. he know also has Snow`s childhood friend and love intrest in his ranks, William, son of the duke, who set out to look for her when word came out and hopes to be led to her this way. The Huntsman takes Snow away from harm before William can find her however.
At this point, we also learn about how Ravenna became the tortured man-hating woman that she is today as it is revealed she had been taken and forcefully wedded to another king before, and it was through her brother Finn and his dark magic she managed to overcome him.
Fleeing, the Huntsmand and Snow are captured in a trap set by the 7 Dwarves. Goldminers by trade, they decide to follow her as they see who she is and that she is the one with the power to overcome the queen. They decide to take her to the forest of the Faeries, Sanctuary, where she sis summoned before the White Heart, a manifestation of nature in the form of a great stag. He blesses Snow White and reveals to her that way that she is `life itself` that will heal the land and the people.
Right at that moment, Finn decides to attack and wounds the White Heart. He beats up the Huntsman, but as he starts mocking his deceased wife, the Huntsman enrages and kills Finn on the roots of an old tree, a pain felt by Ravenna as well. Gus, one of the 7 dwarves, is mortally wounded when protecting Snow, but the other 6 now vow eternal loyalty to avenge their fallen brother.
On their way to the castle of the Duke, William poisons Snow with an apple, but is revealed to be Ravenna instead. Snow lies dead and the duke`s son, the real William, kisses her... and nothing happens. Only later, after her corpse is born to the Duke`s castle and laid bare, the Huntsman makes a heartdeep confession of her being the first person he trusts since his wife died, and he kisses her corpse on the lips in farewell. This causes Snow to return from the dead though!
She raises the army of the duke and his loyalists, and under the tattered banner of her father they ride out to overthrow Ravenna once and for all.
As the Dwarves infiltrate the castle to open the gates, the army rides in and Snow seperates herself from the rest to face off Ravenna. They engage in an epic battle, and as her friends are held back by obsidian glass golems by Ravenna, the queen nearly overpowers Snow until she drives a dagger right through the heart of Ravenna, and braking the spell over the land. Snow White is now crowned the new queen... and the movie ends.
Conclusion
Not at all that bad a movie actually. Sure, it takes some real visual copies of Lord of the Rings (the swamp, the sweeping landscape as this fellowship travels the world, the ride of the cavalry) but the CGI levels of the movie are on excellent level.
In that latter part, the enchanted forest in particular stands out, with it`s exotic wildlife.
On acting performances, not much can be said wrong from the two lead heroes, though I found Charlize Theron rather weakly cast. She is more of a forced hysterical screamqueen then a brooding, evil malice.
Okay, some details where rather silly if you think of it, the rusted nail out of the window the absolute winner of this, and how come certain youths that where drained are young again at the end? If Snow could bring life back, then Gus wouldn`t have had to be burned now had he?
But it is an enjoyable movie, not the greatest of fantasy flicks out there, but for a quiet afternoon it is a good one to watch, don`t spend to much on it for a DVD, but if they give it on television and you have the time, grab a bag of crisps and sit down to watch.
And it`s CGI is very Legospiring btw... ;-)
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